We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. Without the financial, logistical and moral support provided by the Tow Center—and by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism more broadly—it would not have been possible for us to spend a semester away from our day jobs, rewiring an information security curriculum, splicing it into the power source provided by a room full of eager j-school students and attempting to monitor the results. In particular, we are hugely grateful to Emily Bell for creating this opportunity, to Liz Boylan and Smitha Khorana for their assistance throughout the semester, to Jenn Henrichsen for her help with this report, and, of course, to Susan McGregor for advice and encouragement at every stage.
We would also like to thank Mark Hansen, Michael Krish, and the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, whose brand new home served as a workbench for this experiment. We are well acquainted with the urgent creativity that a particularly challenging venue can sometimes inspire, but the Brown Institute was our first experience with a training room that forced us to innovate just so we could do it justice.
By allowing us to participate in their Investigative Skills class, Sheila Coronel and Jim Mintz gave us key insights that allowed us to tailor our curriculum much more effectively. Thank you both. And, finally, a shout out to our students for their curiosity, enthusiasm and commitment. It’s been a pleasure!